If YOU ARE A JAMAICAN, DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE AFRICAN?

I'm not Jamaican, but my grandad is black and from Trinidad, (my dad is then half and I'm a quarter) and that side of my family doesn't affiliate itself with Africa or Africans at all! You're trying to pigeonhole black people saying that they should all consider themselves African. At the end of the day it's their NATIONALITY, they're born and raised in that country so they identify with it. You're getting ethnicity and nationality completely mixed up, yes Jamaicans and Africans share (pretty much) the same ethnicity (though Jamaicans will be a little diverse seeing as their ancestors probably mixed with native, white, Asian) but they do not share the same nationality and the same culture. It's like saying 'why don't Canadians, Americans, Australians and South Africans just call themselves Europeans?' Because that would be ****ing ridiculous. Oh and all the black people and Asians from those countries or even Europe who identify as American/Australian/southafrican/Canadian/British etc would have to start saying they were 'African' or from Asia, even if they have no cultural ties and the place seems strange to them.

As i said earlier this is just a project idea i am conducting and i need comments i am not trying to pigeon hole black people i am proud of being black. I was only an idea. Sorry if you were offended anyhow.

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I hear that quite a lot but i do not believe that. Really? then if this is true how come everyone has different colour of skin?

The phrase "we are all Africans" is referring to our evolutionary history. The Homo sapiens species originated in mid Africa about 150,000 years ago, and we spread out to colonise the world from there, as we out competed other members of the Homo genus (H. habilis, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, etc.) and become the dominant species. It's believed that these other members of the Homo genus evolved earlier than us and migrated out of Africa, whereas our species evolved from a population that remained in Africa.

The reason we all have different skin colours because of the adaptive mechanisms behind evolution. White skin is a mutation - our ancestors were originally all black. But due to the differing climates we came to occupy, other skin colours began to be selected for, so we ended up as a species with many different skin colours.

I wasn't really offended, I just thought it was completely ridiculous that you came to this conclusion yourself. I think maybe it's different for you because one of your parents IS African, and you must've picked up on parts of whichever culture(Nigerian? I can't see your op at the moment) so you find it acceptable to be called African, whereas black Jamaicans (or any other black person who identifies with a country that isn't in the African continent) usually wouldn't like it because it erases their culture and identity and replaces it with another that does not represent them at all.

Also, you shouldn't be 'proud' of being a certain ethnicity, that's how supremacism starts. We're all equal, we're all the same and you don't choose the colour of your skin (Michael Jackson removed from this example) so why should it be something you're 'proud of' as if it's something you've achieved. I'm mixed, I'm not 'proud' of being mixed race but I'm not ashamed either, I'm indifferent, because it shouldn't matter, and it doesn't matter in my eyes.

. I said i am proud of being black because of this reason: the other day one of my friend sat next to an old white woman and the minute she sat down the woman clung on tight to her bag like as if my friend was going to steal it and then when this old womans friend came on the bus she said "all this jamaican and african people are crazy they scare me because i think they will rob and kill me". Now i find that very offensive and so that is why i came to ask that title.

I respect your opinion "deavinj" but the reason i came to that conclusion is because here in my part of london it is a totally different ball game and some of my friends say it is a sin to be black. I said i am proud of being black because of this reason: the other day one of my friend sat next to an old white woman and the minute she sat down the woman clung on tight to her bag like as if my friend was going to steal it and then when this old womans friend came on the bus she said "all this jamaican and african people are crazy they scare me because i think they will rob and kill me". Now i find that very offensive and so that is why i came to ask that title.

Just because you experience racism it doesn't make you entitled to become 'proud' to be black. What you think mixed race people don't experience racism, Asians don't, white people don't? I've met black people that can't stand white people, just because of their ****ing skin colour and the stereotypes that go with it, but you don't hear people saying 'I'm proud to be white'. I get prejudice from both sides, some black people reject me because I look 'too white' and some white people reject me because I look 'too black', but you don't see me saying 'i'm proud to be mixed race' because that's heading into the territory of 'being mixed race is better than being any of the others', which it isn't. How is something you can't change, that you were born with a sin? And if you're friends with people who think like that then I think you're better off alone. None of what you just said backs up your conclusion of 'Jamaicans should just call themselves Africans', the only thing that's remotely close is the old woman lumping 'Jamaicans and Africans' together. At least she did make the distinction and didn't just say 'Africans' and anyway, are you saying we should all just follow the old white woman's way of thinking, bend to what SHE thinks and just go 'oh they're all the same!' When it's not true. That's like when ignorant people see an Asian person and says they're Chinese, even though there are many other countries they could have come from with many different cultures.

I was not aware that Jamaicans were fighting with Africans. African consists of many ethnic grounds and many countries just as Europe does. You can't just lump everyone together because they share a skin tone. 12% of the Jamaican population is of European origin, I don't feel a sense of connection to them because they are white. Main land Africa people and the Caribbean are seperated by around 350 years of events, triumphs, defeats, conflicts etc. Jamaica has it's own culture and heritage so no I don't see why someone who is Jamaican should consider themselves of Africa. It would be a bit like me going to upper Saxony in Germany and telling all the people there that we are brothers and sisters because we share a skin tone along with going up to Norway and across to France and Rome. I don't think these people are my "brothers and sisters" as you put it just because I am white. It seems like quite a racist base to work from.

Just because you experience racism it doesn't make you entitled to become 'proud' to be black. What you think mixed race people don't experience racism, Asians don't, white people don't? I've met black people that can't stand white people, just because of their ****ing skin colour and the stereotypes that go with it, but you don't hear people saying 'I'm proud to be white'. I get prejudice from both sides, some black people reject me because I look 'too white' and some white people reject me because I look 'too black', but you don't see me saying 'i'm proud to be mixed race' because that's heading into the territory of 'being mixed race is better than being any of the others', which it isn't. How is something you can't change, that you were born with a sin? And if you're friends with people who think like that then I think you're better off alone. None of what you just said backs up your conclusion of 'Jamaicans should just call themselves Africans', the only thing that's remotely close is the old woman lumping 'Jamaicans and Africans' together. At least she did make the distinction and didn't just say 'Africans' and anyway, are you saying we should all just follow the old white woman's way of thinking, bend to what SHE thinks and just go 'oh they're all the same!' When it's not true. That's like when ignorant people see an Asian person and says they're Chinese, even though there are many other countries they could have come from with many different cultures.